Washing machine jumps and bangs on spin

Last updated on May 10th, 2017

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There are two common causes for when a washing machine jumps and bangs on spin. Either the load is a bad one and unable to be balanced, or a fault is preventing the machine from balancing the load. The occasional jumping around may not be anything to worry about. However, regular or severe occurrences should be a cause for concern and can cause expensive damage to your washing machine if ignored. A general rocking around of a washing machine on spin may just be caused by an uneven floor, or an un-level washing machine.

To differentiate between the two common issues, observe when the problem occurs. If it’s during a wash cycle, maybe at random parts of the programme, it may have a fault which really needs an engineer to diagnose. These faults can be intermittent and tricky to diagnose. If it only happens when it kicks into the fast spin the chances are it’s related to the load inside.

Am I overloading the washing machine?

Overloading is not good, but surprisingly it’s under-loading that causes more problems. When the drum goes into fast spin the laundry inside needs to be evenly distributed inside. If not, the washer jumps or bangs quite violently. If the washer is just rocking about on most spins make sure it’s on a level floor and that it is properly level.

Before a proper spin the drum should revolve slowly for a couple of minutes. This section of the cycle is called “distribute”. If a load is out of balance you can often observe the inner drum lurching from side to side. You might even see it gently thumping the sides of the casing a few times whilst it’s trying to distribute the load prior to fast spin. At this stage you may see large flashes of metal drum on each revolution. This would be where laundry has settled around the drum but there wasn’t enough to cover all of it. If this happens the drum will be out of balance. It will then and either refuse to spin, or if allowed to spin may cause the drum to thump around and hit the sides of the casing.

The best way to avoid unbalanced loads in a washing machine

If you try to wash a bulky item that is heavy and absorbent the washing machine is unlikely to be able to balance the drum. Or if you put just a few large towels or a heavy item in amongst some very light fabrics. The heavy items can bunch to one side of the drum and the lighter ones won't be able to counter-balance their weight effectively. There should be enough items to fit all around the drum. If there’s only enough to fill most of the drum, but a section is empty, then it can get out of balance on spin. If the items are all light that may not cause a problem. However, if some items are heavy they may cause violent banging on spin. Or the washing machine’s out of balance detection system may just refuse to allow a spin.

Make sure you fill the drum well. Counter to expectations, the worst violent spins are caused by under-loading – not overloading. Heavy bath mats are notoriously difficult to balance and should ideally be washed with other items. If they gather on one side of the drum it will upset the balance of the load. However, some people (understandably) don't want to mix the bath mats in with normal washing. If this is the case and you do get problems with the bath mats getting out of balance I suggest you use old towels or sheets to even the load up. With most modern machines though a heavy bath mat is more likely to just not get spun rather than be allowed to spin out of control and wreck the machine.

Sometimes you can get an unbalanced load by sheer chance, with loads you have successfully washed many times before. The occasional bad load is inevitable but constant bad loads and violent banging on spin should be looked into. [ Related: loading the washing machine properly ].

Modern washers have built in out of balance protection

Most modern washing machines now electronically monitor the motor during the slow distribution section leading up to the spin. If the load is out of balance, the motor shouldn’t be allowed to spin. Typically, a modern washing machine will attempt to balance the load a certain amount of times or for a certain passage of time. If it can’t, it will either reach the end of the program without spinning, or it will abort spin and turn off. Both scenarios will leave the laundry wet through. Some washing machines may allow only a slow spin if the clothes are reasonably balanced. But then unless they settle down it will not allow a higher spin. This will leave laundry spun, but much wetter than normal.

Some washing machines will indicate a failed spin due to being unable to balance the wash load so check your instruction book to see if your washing machine has this function. Find out what happens if a spin is aborted. Unfortunately some washing machines do not adequately inform the user that it failed to balance the wash load and aborted the spin. As an engineer, I have been called out many times because a load was washed but not spun, but there was no fault on the washing machine, just an aborted unbalanced load. [ Related help: Washing machine won’t spin just one item or very small loads ]

Extra large drums make balancing loads harder

These days you can buy washing machines with much bigger drums. The average drum size was at one time a mere 4.5Kg but is now 6Kg. You can buy washing machines with 7Kg, 8Kg and even 10Kg drums.

These washing machines can be more prone to refusing to spin some small loads because they need even more items to fill the drum. For example, my 7Kg washing machine will not spin 3 large towels. Last week my wife was extremely frustrated as she had just washed our son's hoody-top and wanted to spin it in the washer. It simply would not spin. I advised her that it needed something to balance it out. She put in a couple of towels but still no spin. Eventually 5 towels were needed to balance out the absorbent top and allow a spin. This is a minor inconvenience compared to the benefit of being able to fit more washing in but it highlights how if you have a very large drum it could be more prone to not spinning small loads [ Washing machine won't spin just one item or very small loads ].

I’m loading the washing machine correctly but it still bangs and jumps on spin

This is unfortunately a difficult fault to diagnose. It could be various things including a faulty connection somewhere on the motor or pcb, especially if intermittent. It can be caused by a part overheating, cutting out and then cutting back in causing loss of control. Or it could even be something like a faulty shock absorber. If this fault isn't caused by the loading you really need to get an experienced engineer to look at it. Find a washing machine repairer on Whitegoodshelp

If a brand new washing machine is jumping around on spin

Make sure you have removed all of the transit packaging before using a new washing machine. The transit packaging stops the suspension from working so without the tub being able to bounce up and down on the suspension all the movement created on spin will be translated to side to side movement and the washer will move about and shake. See the instruction manual or accompanying leaflet for instructions on how to remove the transit packaging.

Buy suspension dampers

Appliance Repairs?

Sorry, comments on this topic have been closed. The article already contains all the advice I can think of or I’m comfortable publishing. If the article and any previous comments (below) don’t help, please consider contacting an appliance engineer

Comments: (Oldest first)

Thanks for that WMUser. I hadn’t mentioned that because I was thinking of proper out of balance loads, but I’ve now added an extra sentence advising about levelling at the beginning of the “Recognising an out of balance load” paragraph because a lot of people may only be experiencing excess shaking and movement, which as you say can sometimes be down to something as simple as making sure the floor and washer are properly level.

Hi Andy, I have a similar problem to those above. The machine is a Siemens of 10 years vintage and the drum has recently started banging when starting the spin cycles. I had the back off yesterday and found that drum bounces on the shocks and that the shocks feel oily/greasy. Could it be that the shocks have stopped damping that is causing the “bounce”. Thanks

Washing machine suspension always used to be just a greased metal rod set on big springs so free bouncing worked fine. If the load is balanced properly the movement should be turned into up and down bouncing on the suspension instead of side to side and banging on the casing. Banging on first part of spin which soon settles down is often caused by an unbalanced load – but if you haven’t changed anything and it’s banging on every spin it’s possible the suspension is worn. Without knowing how new suspension feels in comparison though it’s hard to tell.

No It’s fine, although I know why she might say that. A long time ago there were problems associated with just using the spin cycle even though washers were and are clearly designed with programmes to allow that. The problem was that they often had difficulty balancing hand washed loads and sometimes could start to spin an unbalanced load which caused it to bang about very violently.

Sometimes it would be so violent it could damage the washing machine – sometimes seriously. These days though (and for many years) washing machines have built in out of balance protection, which means if you try to spin a load that it can’t balance it should just refuse to spin instead of going violently out of control.

Very good article. Very useful. One problem that causes a machine to jump violently is: A broken Motor Speed Sensor Magnet. It fits onto the spindle at the back of the motor and rotates within the centre of the Motor Speed Sensor, which has two leads connected to it. The Ring Magnet pushes onto the spline of the motor spindle. You may find that the broken Ring Magnet is on the kitchen floor under the machine. The magnet is an essential part of the Motor Speed Sensor, and if it isn’t in one piece – it will cause the machine to jump!

Thanks Mike. The tacho magnet breaking or dropping off used to cause instant loss of speed control and a washer would freak out jumping all over the place. Fortunately manufacturers seem to have redesigned the circuitry so that the motor actually stops running if the magnet comes off. Not sure how many still allow a dangerous spin but it’s possible some might though there will undoubtedly be some old washers still out there that go crazy. The symptoms in such a case would be that the machine would appear to act normally, except that when the drum turns to wash it would spin constantly, pause for several seconds and then spin again. Each time the machine would thump about violently.

I ordered a new tacho magnet from Amazon – costing 10 euros + 10 euros P&P. It was the correct size except that it was a little loose on the motor spindle spline, so I used superglue to secure it. The Hoover CA230 works fine now, no jumping of the machine at all and very smooth running NB. The magnet had come off completely, but on this particular machine – the motor continued to run without it!

Hi washing machine drum is banging against the side even thou we have no clothes and just fill it with water to see if it has been corrected after leveling its feet have taken top off springs suspension s look fine! What could it be ? Thanks for any info !

Hi darleen, it shouldn’t be possible for the drum to bang on the sides without any laundry inside as it’s only the weight of laundry that can cause the outer drum to swing over to hit the sides. Even if the outer drum was leaning on one side there’s normally no movement in the drum without anything inside. Is there by any chance a drum weight that’s broken off? They can be fitted at the front of the drum and or underneath the drum as well as on the top.

The only thing I can think of is if the washer has lost control of the motor and it is spinning instead of turning at wash speed. That could cause the drum to move around when it has water inside. Is the outer drum definitely swinging and hitting the casing or is there just a horrible noise coming from it? Is the drum turning normally on wash or is it doing a short fast spin?

Hi I recently brought a new washer well Anyway its in a little space where washers go in my kitchen when its spins its so violent the whole washer moves banging on both sides of the cupboards and moved bk so iv panicked and stop it iv only used it twice and this is what its doing any idea ??

Hi Natasha, have you taken all the transit packing out? That would account for a new washing machine jumping around on spin and shaking about a lot because the transit packaging stops the suspension from working. Otherwise a new washing machine just shouldn’t do it because they have out of balance protection which should stop the washer spinning if it goes out of balance.

Hello, I have a Whirlpool Oasis washer that bangs very violently when in spin, i have just leveled it again, didn’t help. I have rebalanced and redistributed the load 4-5 times now. I bought these machines used, at first when they were in spin they would just make a loud spinning noise, i thought maybe the bearings were going bad, now almost everytime i do a load wether its heavy or lite, full or half-full it bangs violently. The suspension is all in good order, however, if i push the top of the drum down against the bottom it makes the same sound that it would when it spins. Any Ideas?

Hello Jacob. When it bangs, if you can see that the drum is swaying about violently and the outer drum is hitting the sides of the casing then the fault you are troubleshooting is related to suspension or load balancing faults. If not, and it just makes a loud knocking noise on spin try reading this article carefully to try and work out the most likely cause – washing machine is noisy

Another possibility is a faulty suspension leg, if when you bounce the drum up and down you can hear the noise try to see where it’s coming from with the back panel off. Loose tub weights can cause a loud knocking noise and this is explained in my noise washing machines article.

Hi. I have a one year old 8kg load LG washing machine. It jumps all over the place on a 1000 spin. It is so heavy that I have trouble pushing it back into place. I have tried the little squares which you stick to the floor which came with the machine but it has just broken those up. I have a wooden floor and wonder if this is part of the problem.

My washing machine works fine with a small load, about an hour for full cycle. When I add a few more pieces of clothing the washer gets stuck in the spin cycle taking several times longer to complete the spin cycle. The clothes are balanced and relatively light, no towels. Is the spin cycle that sensitive to a few more pieces of laundry or is there something else I can do?

Hi Greg. Under-loading causes unbalanced loads but there is a point where the load is so under weight that it doesn’t cause out of balance because the laundry just isn’t heavy enough. As you add more laundry it’s possible for it to become heavy enough to cause out of balance issues but still “under-loaded”. Try adding even more laundry to see if it then becomes an optimal load. As long as there is a reasonable amount of space at the top of the laundry as described in my article loading a washing machine you should be ok.